Monday, May 2, 2011

A Historic Day...

Today started out as a typical day. My alarm went off at 6:00am and I rolled out of bed around 6:05am. I then proceeded to get dressed and headed out the door and over to Riverside park for my run. It was a beautiful morning. The fact that it was overcast allowed for the perfect temperature. When I got home an hour later, I was headed back into my room when my roommate opened the door and said, "Did you hear what happened?" My response, "No..." She said, "Osama bin Laden is dead."

It took a minute for the reality of what happened to sink in. Then the thought came to me that I am so lucky to be able to be in this city at this time during this historical event.

During work later that day, my roommate Jessica sent me a text saying that she was down at Ground Zero and that I needed to go down that day sometime. So after work my coworker and I rode the subway down to see what was going on. As we rounded the corner to the site, we saw a massive group of people along with various media crews crowded around the fenced in wreckage area.

This was a very tender sight. This flag you see here is composed of the casualties killed during the 9/11 events here in New York City. The man in the corner of the photo looked, found and poured over the name of a loved one he had found on the flag.

A building going up as part of the memorial sight.

This is the gate entrance to the 9/11 sight. There were policeman everywhere you looked within several blocks of the sight. The one you see in this photo is holding a very large rifle. I think this could intimidate any potential attacker...

It was amazing the number of media crews set up in front of the sight. The crews that I saw down there included AP, NBC and CBS.

This is an arial view of the sight hung on the fence that surrounds it.

Overall it was a very tender day. It's been almost 10 years since the 9/11 attacks and I can still remember that morning and exactly where I was when I found out about the attacks. Back then I don't think I quite understood how catastrophic and traumatizing this event was. Being here on this day has definitely brought new perspective to the reality of what happened on that early September morning. There are people just like you and me living here in New York City. People with family, friends and loved ones living normal lives. Working for what they want and trying to be happy. This is their town and neighborhood and they hold this city close to their hearts. Today was a historic day for all of us, but especially those here in New York City.